Method and Apparatus for Managing Images Using a Voice Tag

ABSTRACT

An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a voice input module which receives a voice from an outside to generate voice data, a memory which stores one or more images or videos, and a processor which is electrically connected to the voice input module and the memory. The memory includes instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the electronic device to link at least one of the voice data, the first metadata information based on the voice data, or second metadata information generated from the voice data and/or the first metadata information with the second image or video.

RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/882,879, filed on Oct. 14, 2018, expected to issue as U.S. Pat. No.9,916,864 on Mar. 13, 2018, entitled “Method and Apparatus for ManagingImages Using a Voice Tag,” which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) of a Korean patent application filed on Oct. 14, 2014 in theKorean Intellectual Property Office and assigned Serial No.10-2014-0138108, the entire disclosure of each of which are herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a display controlling method and anelectronic device.

Recently-available electronic devices, such as a smart phone or atablet, are generally equipped with a camera. Performance of thesecameras in such electronic device is equal to or better than aconventional digital single lens reflex (DSRL) or digital camera. Forexample, Samsung Galaxy S5 is equipped with a rear camera which numeroussupports functions such as auto focusing (AF), out-focusing, opticalimage stabilizer (OIS), and the like, and which includes 16-mega pixelsof an ISOCELL-type.

A camera of such an electronic device provide high quality photoswithout a user needing to possess a high degree of photo shootingtechnique, and the number of events that a camera is utilized by a userrapidly increases, because the use of the camera becomes simpler (e.g.,it is possible to use a camera function even at a home screen of alocked electronic device). Photos which are obtained using such a cameraare stored together with tag information.

A captured photo (or image) may be stored in the form of an image file.Using a photo management application, such as a gallery application, auser arranges images by a folder unit, or arranges images in an order ofcaptured date, file size, or resolution. However, if the number ofcaptured photos rapidly increases, it is inefficient to search for adesired photo among a lot of photos using a conventional method.

SUMMARY

An aspect of the present disclosure is to provide an electronic device.The electronic device may input a voice tag to an original image and mayassign the same tag to other images similar to the original image,thereby allowing a user to search for a desired photo effectively usingthe voice tag.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, an electronicdevice may include a voice input module to obtain voice data on aspecific image, and a control module to analyze the voice data todetermine metadata information of the specific image. Also, the controlmodule may be configured to register the voice data with respect to atleast one association image, which satisfies a specific reference withrespect to the specific image or the determined metadata information,from among a plurality of images as a voice tag.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings,discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certainembodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an electronic device in a networkenvironment, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a user interface forregistering a voice tag, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating metadata information anda tag registration process using the metadata information, according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method for controllingthe number of association images, according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method for searchingfor an image having a voice tag, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a voice tag registrationmethod, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method for determiningassociation images using a parameter priority, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method for determiningassociation images using a weight of a parameter, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating a voice tag registrationmethod, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method for registeringvoice tags at images stored on an electronic device and a server,according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device, accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a program module, according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbersare used to depict the same or similar elements, features, andstructures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be described withreference to accompanying drawings. Accordingly, those of ordinary skillin the art will recognize that modification, equivalent, and/oralternative on the various embodiments described herein can be variouslymade without departing from the scope and spirit of the presentdisclosure. With regard to description of drawings, similar componentsmay be marked by similar reference numerals.

In the disclosure disclosed herein, the expressions “have,” “may have,”“include” and “comprise,” “may include,” “may comprise” used hereinindicate existence of corresponding features (e.g., elements such asnumeric values, functions, operations, or components) but do not excludepresence of additional features.

In the disclosure disclosed herein, the expressions “A or B,” “at leastone of A or/and B,” or “one or more of A or/and B,” and the like usedherein may include any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items. For example, the term “A or B,” “at least oneof A and B,” or “at least one of A or B” may refer to all of the case(1) where at least one A is included, the case (2) where at least one Bis included, or the case (3) where both of at least one A and at leastone B are included.

The terms, such as “first,” “second,” and the like used herein may referto various elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure,but do not limit the elements. For example, such terms do not limit theorder and/or priority of the elements. Furthermore, such terms may beused to distinguish one element from another element. For example, “afirst user device” and “a second user device” indicate different userdevices. For example, without departing the scope of the presentdisclosure, a first element may be referred to as a second element, andsimilarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element.

It will be understood that when an element (e.g., a first element) isreferred to as being “(operatively or communicatively) coupled with/to”or “connected to” another element (e.g., a second element), it can bedirectly coupled with/to or connected to the other element or anintervening element (e.g., a third element) may be present. In contrast,when an element (e.g., a first element) is referred to as being“directly coupled with/to” or “directly connected to” another element(e.g., a second element), it should be understood that there are nointervening element (e.g., a third element).

According to the situation, the expression “configured to” used hereinmay be used as, for example, the expression “suitable for,” “having thecapacity to,” “designed to,” “adapted to,” “made to,” or “capable of.”The term “configured to” must not mean only “specifically designed to”in hardware. Instead, the expression “a device configured to” may meanthat the device is “capable of” operating together with another deviceor other components. For example, a “processor configured to perform A,B, and C” may mean a dedicated processor (e.g., an embedded processor)for performing a corresponding operation or a generic-purpose processor(e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) or an application processor)which may perform corresponding operations by executing one or moresoftware programs that are stored in a memory.

Terms used in this specification are used to describe specifiedembodiments of the present disclosure and are not intended to limit thescope of the present disclosure. The terms of a singular form mayinclude plural forms unless otherwise specified. Unless otherwisedefined herein, all the terms used herein, which include technical orscientific terms, may have the same meaning that is generally understoodby a person skilled in the art. It will be further understood thatterms, which are defined in a dictionary and commonly used, should alsobe interpreted as is customary in the relevant related art and not in anidealized or overly formal detect unless expressly so defined herein invarious embodiments of the present disclosure. In some cases, even ifterms are terms which are defined in the specification, they may not beinterpreted to exclude embodiments of the present disclosure.

An electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure may include at least one of smartphones, tablet personalcomputers (PCs), mobile phones, video telephones, electronic bookreaders, desktop PCs, laptop PCs, netbook computers, workstations,servers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable multimedia players(PMPs), Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG-1 or MPEG-2) Audio Layer 3(MP3) players, mobile medical devices, cameras, wearable devices (e.g.,head-mounted-devices (HMDs), such as electronic glasses), electronicapparel, electronic bracelets, electronic necklaces, electronicappessories, electronic tattoos, smart watches, and the like.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic devices may be smart home appliances. The smart homeappliances may include at least one of, for example, televisions (TVs),digital versatile disc (DVD) players, audios, refrigerators, airconditioners, cleaners, ovens, microwave ovens, washing machines, aircleaners, set-top boxes, TV boxes (e.g., Samsung HomeSync™, Apple TV™,or Google TV™), game consoles (e.g., Xbox™ and PlayStation™), electronicdictionaries, electronic keys, camcorders, electronic picture frames,and the like.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic devices may include at least one of medical devices (e.g.,various portable medical measurement devices (e.g., a blood glucosemonitoring device, a heartbeat measuring device, a blood pressuremeasuring device, a body temperature measuring device, and the like),magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), a magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), a computed tomography (CT), scanners, and ultrasonic devices),navigation devices, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, eventdata recorders (EDRs), flight data recorders (FDRs), vehicleinfotainment devices, electronic equipment for vessels (e.g., navigationsystems and gyrocompasses), avionics, security devices, head units forvehicles, industrial or home robots, automatic teller's machines (ATMs),points of sales (POSs), or internet of things (e.g., light bulbs,various sensors, electric or gas meters, sprinkler devices, fire alarms,thermostats, street lamps, toasters, exercise equipment, hot watertanks, heaters, boilers, and the like).

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, theelectronic devices may include at least one of furniture orbuildings/structures, electronic boards, electronic signature receivingdevices, projectors, or various measuring instruments (e.g., watermeters, electricity meters, gas meters, or wave meters, and the like).

The electronic devices according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure may be one or more combinations of the above-mentioneddevices. According to a certain embodiment of the present disclosure, anelectronic device may be a flexible electronic. Also, electronic devicesaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure are notlimited to the above-mentioned devices, and may include new electronicdevices according to technology development

Hereinafter, electronic devices according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. The term “user” used herein may refer to a person who uses anelectronic device or may refer to a device (e.g., an artificialelectronic device) that uses an electronic device.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an electronic device in a networkenvironment, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated an electronic device 101 in anetwork environment 100 according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The electronic device 101 may include a bus 110, a processor120, a memory 130, an input/output (I/O) interface 150, a display 160,and a communication interface 170. The electronic device 101 may furtherinclude a shooting module 180. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device 101 may not include at least one ofthe above-described components or may further include othercomponent(s).

The bus 110 may interconnect the above-described components: processor120, memory 130, input/output (I/O) interface 150, display 160,communication interface 170 and shooting module 180, and may be acircuit for conveying communications (e.g., a control message and/ordata) among the above-described components.

The processor 120 may include one or more of a central processing unit(CPU), an application processor (AP), or a communication processor (CP).The processor 120 may perform, for example, data processing or anoperation associated with control or communication of at least one othercomponent(s) of the electronic device 101. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the processor 120 may beunderstood as being a control module and may include a graphicsprocessing module (e.g., a graphics processing unit (GPU)). Theprocessor 120 may further include a sub-module such as an analysismodule for analyzing voice data.

The memory 130 may include a volatile and/or nonvolatile memory. Thememory 130 may store instructions or data associated with at least oneother component(s) of the electronic device 101. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the memory 130 may store softwareand/or a program 140. The memory 130 may include, for example, a kernel141, a middleware 143, an application programming interface (API) 145,and/or an application (or an application program) 147. At least aportion of the kernel 141, the middleware 143, or the API 145 may becalled an “operating system (OS).”

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the memory130 may store a plurality of photos or videos which are captured by theshooting module 180 or are obtained through the communication interface170. Furthermore, the memory 130 may include an application 147 (e.g., agallery application) for editing or managing a plurality of images orvideos.

The kernel 141 may control or manage system resources (e.g., the bus110, the processor 120, the memory 130, and the like) that are used toexecute operations or functions of other programs (e.g., the middleware143, the API 145, and the application program 147). Furthermore, thekernel 141 may provide an interface that allows the middleware 143, theAPI 145, or the application program 147 to access discrete components ofthe electronic device 101 so as to control or manage system resources.

The middleware 143 may perform a mediation role such that the API 145 orthe application program 147 communicates with the kernel 141 to exchangedata.

Furthermore, the middleware 143 may process task requests received fromthe application program 147 according to a priority. For example, themiddleware 143 may assign the priority, which makes it possible to use asystem resource (e.g., the bus 110, the processor 120, the memory 130,or the like) of the electronic device 101, to the at least one of theapplication program 147. For example, the middleware 143 may process theone or more task requests according to the priority assigned to the atleast one application program 147, which makes it possible to performscheduling or load balancing on the one or more task requests.

The API 145 may be an interface through which the application program147 controls a function provided by the kernel 141 or the middleware143, and may include, for example, at least one interface or function(e.g., an instruction) for a file control, a window control, imageprocessing, a character control, or the like.

The I/O interface 150 may transmit an instruction or data, input from auser or another external device, to other component(s) of the electronicdevice 101. Furthermore, the I/O interface 150 may output an instructionor data, received from other component(s) of the electronic device 101,to a user or another external device.

The I/O interface 150 may include a voice input module 152 which obtainsa voice input from a user. The voice input module 152 may be, forexample, a microphone.

The display 160 may include, for example, a liquid crystal display(LCD), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, an organic LED (OLED)display, or a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) display, or anelectronic paper display. The display 160 may display, for example,various contents (e.g., a text, an image, a video, an icon, a symbol,and the like) to a user. The display 160 may include a touch screen andmay receive, for example, a touch, gesture, proximity, or hovering inputusing an electronic pen or a portion of a user's body.

The communication interface 170 may establish communication between theelectronic device 101 and an external electronic device (e.g., a firstexternal electronic device 102, a second external electronic device 104,or a server 106). For example, the communication interface 170 may beconnected to a network 162 through wireless communication or wiredcommunication to communicate with the external device (e.g., a secondexternal electronic device 104 or a server 106).

The wireless communication may include at least one of, for example,LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, WCDMA, UMTs, WiBro, GSM, or the like, as cellularcommunication protocol. Furthermore, the wireless communication mayinclude, for example, a local area network 164. The local area network164 may include, for example, at least one of wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi),Bluetooth, near field communication (NFC), global positioning system(GPS), or the like. The wired communication may include at least one of,for example, a universal serial bus (USB), a high definition multimediainterface (HDMI), a recommended standard-132 (RS-132), or a plain oldtelephone service (POTS). The network 162 may include at least one oftelecommunications networks, for example, a computer network (e.g., LANor WAN), an internet, or a telephone network.

Each of the first and second external electronic devices 102 and 104 maybe a device of which the type is different from or the same as that ofthe electronic device 101. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the server 106 may include a group of one or more servers.According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, all or apart of operations that the electronic device 101 will perform may beexecuted by another or plural electronic devices (e.g., the externalelectronic devices 102 and 104 and the server 106). According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, in the case where the electronicdevice 101 executes any function or service automatically or in responseto a request, the electronic device 101 may not perform the function orthe service internally, but, alternatively additionally, it may requestat least a portion of a function associated with the electronic device101 at other device (e.g., the external electronic device 102 or 104 orthe server 106). The other electronic device (e.g., the externalelectronic device 102 or 104 or the server 106) may execute therequested function or additional function and may transmit the executionresult to the electronic device 101. The electronic device 101 mayprovide the requested function or service using the received result ormay additionally process the received result to provide the requestedfunction or service. To this end, for example, cloud computing,distributed computing, or client-server computing may be used.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a user interface (UI) forregistering a voice tag, according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

A voice tag may be registered using various methods. Below, a method forregistering a voice tag in connection with a shooting operation and amethod for registering a voice tag by selection of a user will bedescribed. However, the scope and spirit of the present disclosure maynot be limited thereto. The present disclosure may be variously modifiedor changed, and is not limited to methods disclosed herein.

A user of an electronic device (e.g., an electronic device 101) may takean object using a camera (e.g., a shooting module 180) mounted on theelectronic device. For example, referring to a screen 210, the user mayadjust a desired shooting mode using at least one button displayed atthe screen 210 and may provide a touch input on a specific button (e.g.,a camera-shaped button) to capture an object.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if shootingis made, the electronic device 101 may provide a screen including a userinterface (UI) for determining whether to register a voice tag. Forexample, there may be provided a screen 220 which includes a UI 221querying whether to register a voice tag. The user may input a voice tagthrough a proper response on the UI 221, for example, through selectionof a “Yes” button.

An UI, such as the screen 220, may be provided according to varioussituations. For example, the screen 220 may be automatically provided ifa camera 180 captures an object. Alternatively, the screen 220 may beprovided if a predetermined input is received from the user after theobject is captured. For example, the screen 220 for querying whether toinput a voice tag may be provided if there occurs the followingoperation: a physical button is pushed over a constant time aftershooting or an electronic device shakes from side to side.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the UI 221may be provided after a photo is taken and a time (e.g., two seconds)elapses. Furthermore, the UI 221 may disappear from a display 160 if noinput is received during a time (e.g., 1.5 seconds) after the UI 221 isprovided. A value of the time (e.g., two seconds, 1.5 seconds, or thelike) may be varied by a user input or may be varied according to asetting of a system (electronic device) or an operation environment.Furthermore, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure,the UI 221 may be provided even before a photo is captured. For example,screen 210 could be provided with an additional button “voice tag+photo”or “voice tag+video”, allowing a user to register first a voice tag andto take a photo or register a video afterwards. For example, a screen230 for registration of a voice tag may be provided after the screen 220including the UI 221 is provided and a photo is captured at the screen210.

In general, a user may change an object, a focus, composition, and thelike after the photo shooting to continue to perform photo shooting. Anobject (an object is slightly variable according to movement of anelectronic device or camera shake) currently held by a lens may bedisplayed on a display of an electronic device which remains in ashooting mode while preparing next shooting. At this state, an icon (ora menu) (e.g., voice input icon 261 of a screen 260) for inputting avoice tag at a screen (e.g., a screen 210) of a current shooting modemay be provided on at least a part (e.g., a right top, a bottom centeror the like of a screen) of a screen. If a corresponding icon isselected, an electronic device may provide a screen 220 for inputting avoice tag with respect to a just previously captured photo. Thisexemplification may be used as a method for marking a photo, which auser determines as being successfully captured, when continuouslycapturing many photos.

If a user intends to register a voice tag at a photo (e.g., a userselects “Yes” of the UI 221), the screen 230 for a voice input may beprovided. The screen 230 may also provide a suitable guide message 231(e.g., Say voice tag for this photo). If a user provides a voice input,the electronic device may produce a data file using the voice input andmay register the data file at a corresponding photo. According tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure, the electronic device 101may convert a voice input into a text using a voice recognition functionand the like and may register a text tag, which is generated byconverting a voice input into a text, at a corresponding photo togetherwith a voice tag corresponding to the voice input. A method forregistering a voice tag (or a voice tag and/or a converted text tag) ata photo may not be limited to the above-described exemplification, andvarious methods may be used.

A photo at which a voice tag is registered may include, for example, avoice tag icon 241 as illustrated in a screen 240. This may beexemplary, and that a voice tag is registered at a corresponding imagemay be expressed using a variety of methods. According to someembodiments of the present disclosure, even though a voice tag isregistered at a photo, the voice-tagged photo may not be markedsubstantially the same as other images at which a voice tag is notregistered.

Voice data which a user registers may be reproduced if a voice tag icon241 is selected by the user. Alternatively, a text converted throughvoice recognition may be temporarily displayed during a time when thevoice tag icon 241 is selected. According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, a variety of menus, such as voice listening,association image search, voice tag deletion, and the like may beprovided around the voice tag icon 241, while a touch input (or ahovering input using an electronic pen and the like) on the voice tagicon 241 is maintained.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a voice tagmay be registered through any other operation which is discrete from ashooting operation. For example, the user may determine an image liststored on the electronic device through an image management applicationsuch as a gallery application as illustrated in a screen 250. If theuser selects a photo, the selected photo may be provided as illustratedin a screen 260. The screen 260 may include a corresponding photo and avoice input icon 261 for guiding registration of a voice tag. If thevoice input icon 261 is selected, a screen for a voice input such as thescreen 230 may be provided. According to some embodiments of the presentdisclosure, after the screen 220 is provided, the screen 230 may beprovided according to a user input. The following procedure maycorrespond to the above description.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, displayingof the screen 220 may be omitted. For example, the screen 230 for avoice input may be provided just after shooting, or the screen 230 maybe immediately provided at the screen 260.

If a voice input on a specific photo is registered as a voice tag by theuser, the electronic device 101 may perform searching for a photo havinga relation with a specific photo to register the same voice tag. Here,the relation may mean a photo similar to the specific photo, but may beinterpreted as encompassing various meanings of relations such asgeographical relation, temporal relation, and the like.

For example, in the case where a maple tree is included in a photocaptured at a botanical garden and a user registers a voice tag of“botanical garden” at a corresponding photo, the electronic device 101may search for any other image (e.g., a similar photo including a mapletree) similar to the photo and may register the same voice tag, that is,the voice tag of “botanical garden.” According to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure, however, the electronic device 101 may analyze avoice input (e.g., “botanical garden”) inputted by a user and maydetermine that a meaning of the voice input corresponds to a specificcategory (e.g., a place), based on the analysis result. In this case,the electronic device 101 may determine suitable metadata information320 (e.g., area information, GPS coordinates information, and the likeon a place where a photo is captured) among metadata information 320 ofthe photo and may register the voice tag of “botanical garden” at anyother image (e.g., a photo captured at the same area or an imagecaptured within a distance of 1 Km from the GPS coordinates) whichsatisfies a reference with respect to corresponding metadata information320.

Below, there will be described information used to determine an imagehaving a relation with a specific image, and there will be described amethod for determining an association image using each piece ofinformation and registering a voice tag.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating metadata information 320and a tag registration process using the metadata information, accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a variety ofinformation included in a specific image 300 may be used to register avoice tag. First of all, information of an image itself may be used. Forexample, an object (e.g., sea, nightscape, sky, grassland, mountain,building, and the like) which an image expresses, an object (e.g., cat,baby, book, coffee, food, and the like) included in the image, colordistribution of the image, or the like may be used to register a voicetag. As such, information visually provided through an image may besimply expressed as image information 310. A processor 120 of anelectronic device 101 may determine similarity (e.g., similarity of 75%)between a specific image 300 and any other image based on the imageinformation 310, for example, using an image processing technique andthe like.

The specific image 300 may include a variety of metadata information 320as well as the image information 310 visually provided. The metadatainformation 320 may include location information 321 indicating alocation where the specific image 300 is captured, time information 323indicating a time when the specific image 300 is captured, deviceinformation 325 indicating information on a device capturing thespecific image 300, mode information 327 indicating a shooting mode usedat point in time when the specific image 300 is captured, and a varietyof other information 329 (e.g., resolution of an image file, capacity,file name, folder where a file is stored, and the like).

The location information 321 may include information on a nation, acity, an area, a specific building or a position where the specificimage 300 is captured. Furthermore, the location information 321 mayinclude a geographical information such as GPS coordinates. According tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure, the location information321 may include information on a network access point (AP) or a basestation connected at a point in time when the specific image 300 iscaptured.

The time information 323 may include information on a time when thespecific image 300 is captured. For example, the time information 323may include information on year, month, date, hour, minute, second, andthe like when the specific image 300 is captured. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the time information 323 may beused without modification or may be changed into any other format (e.g.,season, am/pm, sunset/sunrise, or a lunar date and the like) before theuse.

The device information 325 may include information on the capture deviceused to capture the specific image 300. For example, the deviceinformation 325 may include information on a model name, a maker, a typeof used lens of a shooting device, or the like or whether the shootingdevice is the same as a user device which displays the specific image300 (e.g., whether the image is captured by an electronic device 101 orwhether the specific image 300 captured by an external device istransmitted to the electronic device 101 through a network and the like)and the like.

The mode information 327 may include information on a shooting mode usedat a point in time when the specific image 300 is captured. In detail,the mode information 327 may include information on whether thefollowing techniques are used at shooting: focusing, out-focusing,flash, white balance (or level thereof), correction, proximity shooting,night mode and the like.

Below, there will be described a method for determining an associationimage based on a result of determining one or more of pieces of metadatainformation 320.

If voice data of a user is received with respect to the specific image300 in operation 301, the processor 200 may analyze the voice data inoperation 303. The processor 120 may further include a language model, avoice recognition module or a sound spectrum analysis engine which isused to analyze voice data. The processor 120 may analyze the voice datato determine a meaning thereof. For example, the processor 120 maydetermine a received voice as “sea” based on a result of analyzing thevoice data. The processor 120 may classify a meaning of voice data as aspecific category (e.g., a location category for “sea”) and maydetermine metadata information 320 (e.g., location information for“sea”) corresponding to a corresponding category.

To determine metadata information 320 based on voice data, the processor120 may use image information 310 as well as analyze voice data itself.For example, in the case where a user provides a voice input of“[me:t],” it may not be clear to determine whether a voice input is“meet” or “meat,” through a voice data-based analysis. In the case where“meat” appears at a current specific image 300, the processor 120 mayanalyze corresponding voice data as “meat” using the image information310 (e.g., an object appearing at a specific image 300, that is,“meat”).

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theprocessor 120 may determine a meaning of a voice input through a server106. For example, the processor 120 may provide the voice data, which isinputted by a user, and the specific image 300 to the server 106 througha communication interface 170 and may receive a result analyzed by theserver 106. The processor 120 may use the received result to determinemetadata information 320.

If the voice data is analyzed in operation 303, the processor 120 maydetermine at least one of segments of metadata information 320 such aslocation, time, shooting device, shooting mode, or the like, based on arelation between an analysis result on voice data and each of portionsof metadata information 320 included in metadata information 320 andspecifically, information 321, 323, 325, 327, or 329. For example, inthe case where voice inputs such as sea, Dokdo, botanical garden,department store, and the like are analyzed as being associated with aposition, the processor 120 may determine the location information 321as metadata information 320. For example, in the case where voice inputssuch as nightscape, sunset, sunrise, birthday, and the like areassociated with a date or a time, the processor 120 may determine thetime information 323 as metadata information 320.

The processor 120 may determine two or more pieces of metadatainformation 320 with respect to a piece of voice data. For example, inthe case where a voice input is “summer sea,” the time information 323and the location information 321 may be determined.

In the case where voice data does not have a suitable categorycorresponding to metadata information, for example, in the case wherevoice input is regardless of a position, a time, an image shootingdevice, etc. like “keyboard,” the processor 120 may determinepredetermined suitable metadata information 320. In the aboveexemplification, the processor 120 may determine the locationinformation 321, the time information 323, and the mode information 327as metadata information 320, which is used to register a voice tag, withrespect to the voice input of “keyboard.” In this case, the processor120 may register a voice tag of “keyboard” with respect to other imagescaptured under conditions of a position, a mode (e.g., proximityshooting mode) and a date that are similar to those of a specific image300 where a voice tag of “keyboard” is registered. As will be describedlater, the other images may be images determined as being somewhatsimilar to the image (e.g., a photo including a keyboard), using theimage information 310.

Below, an operation (e.g., operation 307) in which a voice tag isregistered based on a result of determining an association image usingimage information 310 and metadata information 320 will be described.

The processor 120 may determine an image, which is determined as beingassociated with the specific image 300, from among a plurality of imagesstored on a memory 130 of an electronic device 101 by using the imageinformation 310 and metadata information. An image corresponding to atarget to be determined may not need to be stored on the memory 130. Forexample, determining whether or not of to allow an association image maybe performed with respect to images stored on a cloud server (e.g., aserver 106). This will be described with reference to FIG. 10. Below,how images are stored on the electronic device 101 will be described forthe sake of easy description.

The processor 120 may utilize various methods to determine an imageassociated with a specific image 300. For example, the processor 120 maydetermine an image, which has similarity of a threshold value or more,as an association image using the image information 310. To compareimages, the processor 120 may include an image processing module or mayuse an image processing algorithm.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a thresholdvalue on the similarity may be variously set. For example, a setting maybe made such that an image with a similarity greater than or equal to70% is determined as an association image. Alternatively, a setting maybe made such that an image with a similarity greater than or equal to95% is determined as an association image. According to variousembodiments of the present disclosure, the image information 310 mayinclude information on an object (e.g., tree, vehicle, person, food andthe like) included in the specific image 300, and the processor 120 maydetermine an association image by determining a similarity between anobject, included in the specific image 300, or an object, occupying thegreatest ratio, from among objects included therein and an objectincluded in any other image.

The above exemplification may be described under the assumption that asimilarity of an image is greater than or equal to a threshold value.According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, however, athreshold value may be replaced with a predetermined range. For example,an image having a very high similarity (e.g., a similarity of 95 to100%) may be an image on the same subject obtained through continuousshooting (or a burst mode). According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, it may be efficient to determine an image, having asimilarity of a predetermined range (e.g., a similarity of 50 to 80%),as an association image rather than attaching a voice tag tosubstantially the same images (i.e., having a very high similarity).

The processor 120 may use metadata information 320 to determine anassociation image. For example, the processor 120 may determine anyother image, which has, as metadata information 320, a shooting locationbelonging within a specific range from a location where the specificimage 300 is captured, as an association image using the locationinformation 321. For example, in the case where a location where thespecific image 300 is captured is Incheon airport, the processor 120 maydetermine an image, which includes location information corresponding tothe Incheon airport as metadata information 320, as an associationimage. Alternatively, the processor 120 may determine, for example, animage, which includes, as metadata, a location included in a specificrange (e.g., 2Km) from GPS coordinates where the specific image 300 iscaptured, as an association image.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theprocessor 120 may determine an image, which has, as metadata information320, a shooting time having a predetermined relation with a time whenthe specific image 300 is captured, as an association image. Forexample, a control module 120 may determine an image, which includes, asmetadata information, time information belonging within a specific range(e.g., two hours before and after a time) from the time when thespecific image 300 is captured (e.g., Mar. 1, 2014, 2 a.m.), as being anassociation image.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theprocessor 120 may determine an image, which includes, as metadatainformation, time information having a specific relation with a timewhen the specific image 300 is captured, as an association image. Forexample, the processor 120 may determine an image, which includes, asmetadata, the same date (e.g., March 3) as a time when the specificimage 300 is captured, as an association image. Alternatively, theprocessor 120 may determine, for example, an image, which has, asmetadata information, a point in time when a specific date passes from atime when the specific image 300 is captured, as an association image.Alternatively, in the case where the specific image 300 is captured at asunrise time zone, the processor 120 may determine images of which theshooting time is included in the sunrise time zone, as an associationimage. In such embodiments, a user may verify a photo captured at abirthday every year using one voice tag or may easily verify photoscorresponding to days when 100 days, 200 days, and 300 days pass from aspecific anniversary, using one voice tag. Furthermore, the user mayeasily verify a photo on a time-dependent phenomenon, such as sunrise,sunset, glow, full moon or the like using one voice tag.

The above-described embodiments may be exemplary, and modification,expansion and application thereon may be variously made. For example, aphoto captured by any other device, which is not an electronic device101 of a user, using the device information 325 may be managed using aseparate voice tag. Alternatively, a photo captured in a proximityshooting mode using the mode information 327 may be managed using aseparate voice tag. Whether to use any information with respect to eachcase may be determined automatically or by a user setting. Furthermore,the processor 120 may determine an association image for registration ofa voice tag using one or more of pieces of information described above.With regard to a method for determining association images using piecesof information, a method corresponding to the case that pieces ofinformation have priorities will be described with reference to FIG. 7,and a method corresponding to the case that pieces of information haveweights will be described with reference to FIG. 8. Below, a method forregistering voice tags at the desired number of images using pieces ofinformation will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method for adjustingthe number of association images, according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 4, an electronic device 101 may include a plurality ofstored images 410. Registering of the same voice tag as a voice tag maybe performed with respect to any other image which has a relation with aspecific image (e.g., an specific image 300) at which the voice tag isregistered by a user. The registering may be manually performed by auser input (instruction), may be performed just as soon as a usercarries out a search operation using a voice tag, or may be performed inthe background in the case where an electronic device 101 remains at astandby state or an idle state.

A processor 120 may obtain voice data corresponding to a voice tag. Thevoice data may be obtained at the time when the specific image iscaptured or may be obtained from a voice tag which is previouslyregistered at a specific image. If an analysis result on voice dataindicates that voice data is associated with a location, the processor120 may determine an association image using location information 321 ofmetadata information 320 of a specific image 300.

The number of images 420 determined as being an association image on thelocation information 321 may be “m” (e.g., 245). If the number ofassociation images set by a user and the like is smaller than or equalto “N” (e.g., 50), the processor 120 may determine an association imageusing both the location information 321 and image information 310. Thedetermining step may be understood as determining an association imageusing the image information 310 with respect to images 420 (using theimages 420 as population).

If the number of association images 430 (i.e., images including locationinformation 321 and metadata information 320 of a distance condition andsatisfying a similarity of a condition to a specific image (e.g.,specific image 300)) determined as association images using the locationinformation 321 and the image information 310 is m′ (e.g., 47) and m′ issmaller than N, the processor 120 may finally determine the images 430as association images. The processor 120 may register the voice data asa voice tag at the association images 430.

In the above-described embodiment, if the number (m′) of images 430determined using the location information 321 and the image information310 is greater than N, the processor 120 may repeat the determiningusing additional metadata information 320 (e.g., time information 323and the like) until m′ becomes smaller than N.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, m′ may beadjusted to have a predetermined range (e.g., n<m′<N). m′ may not onlyhave a value smaller than N, but it may have a value greater than orequal to a specific value to allow the number of images, satisfying asimilarity of a predetermined condition to a specific image (e.g.,specific image 300), to maintain a constant range. This will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 8.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method for searchingfor an image having a voice tag, according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, there may beprovided an UI 510 for finding an image having a voice tag. For example,a gallery application may provide a search menu 511. If the search menu511 is selected, an input interface such as a typical keyboard/keypadmay be provided together with a voice input button/key, and a user mayselect the voice input button/key to provide a voice input. A processor120 may provide an image, which has a voice tag corresponding to a voicewaveform similar (e.g., indicating a hit ratio of 95% or more) to theprovided voice input, as a search result.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, if a voicetag menu 513 is selected, a list of currently registered voice tags maybe provided. The list of voice tags may be provided in the form of anicon or may be provided together with a text corresponding to a voicetag. A user may select a provided voice tag to reproduce voice datacorresponding to the selected voice tag and may search for image havingthe same voice tag.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the user mayactivate a voice input function through selection of a voice input menu515. If a voice input is provided under the condition, the processor 120may search for an image(s) having a voice tag in the case where a voicetag corresponding to the voice input exists. In the case where a voicetag corresponding to the voice input does not exist, the processor 120may perform an operation (e.g., S-voice or Siri and the like) of ageneral voice recognition application.

If a voice input 520 is provided by the user, an electronic device 101may provide an UI such as a screen 530 or a screen 540. For example, theelectronic device 101 may provide a search result 531 indicating that 34images are found with respect to a voice tag corresponding to a voiceinput of a user, one thereof is a first image to which the user directlyinputs a voice tag, and 33 images are images determined as associationimages of the first image. Furthermore, the electronic device 101 maydisplay a found image or thumbnails 533, 534, 535, 536, 537, 538, etc.of an image together with the search result 531. In this case, the firstfound image 533 may be first of all displayed.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may provide a search result on a voice input asillustrated in a screen 540. In this case, an original image 541 (e.g.,the first found image 533) at which the user directly registers a voicetag may be displayed in the form of a relatively large thumbnail at thecenter, and images 542, 543, 544, 545, etc. at which the same voice tagis registered by an electronic device 101 (or a processor 120) as aconsequence of determining that they are images associated with theoriginal image 541 may be displayed in the form of a relatively smallthumbnail at the bottom. If the user selects a function menu 541 p or541 n, for example, in the case where the user directly registers thesame voice tag at a plurality of images, the electronic device 101 mayoutput a next original image (in the case where a function menu 541 n isselected) (or a previous original image if the function menu 541 p isselected). If the original image 541 is changed into any other originalimage, association images 542, 543, 544, and 545 displayed at the bottommay be replaced with association images of any other original image 541.If one of images provided at the screen 540 is selected, the selectedimage may be displayed at the whole screen.

According to the above description, the search result providing methodmay have various advantages. For example, the user may register a voicetag of “botanical garden” at a photo (a first image) which is capturedat a botanical garden in 2013. The electronic device 101 may registerthe same voice tag at association images (a first image group) of thefirst image. If time information among metadata information 320 is used,a part of botanical garden photos captured in 2013 may be included inthe first image group. In the case where the same voice tag of“botanical garden” is registered at a photo (a second image) captured ata botanical garden where a user visits in 2014, the electronic device101 may register a voice tag of “botanical garden” at association images(a second image group) of the second image using image information andtime information (2014's).

In the case where the user performs image search through a voice inputof “botanical garden,” photos corresponding to the first image, thesecond image, the first image group, and the second image group may bemixed and provided on a search result because having the same voice tagof “botanical garden.” However, in the case where a search result isprovided as illustrated in a screen 540, the first image, the secondimage, the first image group, and the second image group may be easilydistinguishable. Indeed, the first and second image can be displayed asimage 541, the images of the first group can be displayed as images 542,543, 544, 545, etc. when the first image is shown as image 541, and theimages of the second group can be displayed as images 542, 543, 544,545, etc. when the second image is shown as image 541 (by using arrows541 p, 541 n).

In the above exemplification, there may be described the case that timeinformation among metadata information 320 is used, but the case thatother metadata information 320 such as position information and the likeis used may be also useful. For example, in the case where a user takesmany photos at differently located botanical gardens, even though avoice input of “botanical garden” is used as a voice tag with respect tothe botanical gardens, search results on a voice input of “botanicalgarden” may be distinguished according to locations of images capturedat the respective botanical gardens.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a screen 540may be provided if an image of result images of the screen 530 isselected. For example, if an image 533 (original image) is selected atthe screen 540, a first found image 533 may be output at a locationcorresponding to an image 541 in the screen 540, and association imagesof the first found image 533 may be outputted at the bottom of thescreen 540. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure,if the electronic device 101 rotates in a landscape mode at a state ofthe screen 530, a result screen may be provided as illustrated in thescreen 540.

Various exemplifications on an electronic device 101 according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure which registers andsearches for a voice tag may be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to5. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, anelectronic device (e.g., an electronic device 101) may include a voiceinput module 152 configured to receive a voice from an outside togenerate voice data, a memory 130, and a processor 120 electricallyconnected to the voice input module 152 and the memory 130. The memory130 may be configured to store one or more images or videos, and thememory 130 comprises instructions, the instructions, when executed bythe processor 120, causing the electronic device 101 to generate voicedata on a voice received through the voice input module 152 with respectto a first image or video stored on the memory 130, link the voice dataor first metadata information based on the voice data, with the firstimage or video, determine a relation between a second image or video,stored in the memory 130, and the first image or video, and link atleast one of (1) the voice data, (2) the first metadata information , or(3) second metadata information 320 b generated from the voice dataand/or the first metadata information with the second image or video,based on at least a part of the determined relation.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may link the first metadata information with thefirst image or video in the form of a tag, and the electronic device 101may be configured to link at least one of (1) the voice data, (2) thefirst metadata information, or (3) the second metadata information 320 bwith the second image or video in the form of a tag. Here, for example,the first metadata information may include speech-to-text informationextracted from the voice data. Furthermore, the electronic device 101may determine the relation using at least one of an image analysis,location information, time information, text information, or facerecognition information associated with the first image or video and thesecond image or video.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, anelectronic device 101 may include a voice input module 152 configured toreceive a voice from an outside to generate voice data, a communicationinterface 170, a memory 130, and a processor 120 electrically connectedto the voice input module 152, the communication interface 170, and thememory 130. The memory 130 may store one or more images or videos, andthe memory 130 may include instructions, the instructions, when executedby the processor, causing the electronic device 101 to generate voicedata on a voice received through the voice input module 152 with respectto a first image or video stored on the memory 130, link the voice dataor first metadata information based on the voice data, with the firstimage or video, and transmit the first image or video and the linkedvoice data or the first metadata information to the outside of theelectronic device 101 through the communication interface 170.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may transmit a request for requiring one or moreimages or videos associated with the linked voice data or the firstmetadata information to the outside of the electronic device 101 and mayreceive one or more images or videos linked with (1) the voice data, (2)the first metadata information , or (3) second metadata information 320b generated from the voice data and/or the first metadata informationfrom the outside of the electronic device 101.

As an additional or general exemplification, an electronic device 101may include a voice input module 152 configured to obtain voice data ona specific image 300, and a control module 120 configured to analyze thevoice data to determine at least one metadata information 320 of thespecific image 300. Here, the control module 120 may register the voicedata as a voice tag with respect to at least one association image,which satisfies a specific reference with respect to the specific image300 or the determined metadata information 320, from among a pluralityof images. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure,the plurality of metadata information 320 may include at least one ofinformation on a location or a time where the specific image 300 iscaptured, information on a device capturing the specific image 300, orinformation on a shooting mode of the specific image 300.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may further include a shooting module. If thespecific image 300 is captured by the shooting module 180, the controlmodule 120 may be configured to activate the voice input module to guideobtaining of the voice data.

Furthermore, the control module 120 may be configured to provide a userinterface (UI) for guiding obtaining of the voice data if the specificimage 300 is selected, to register a text tag, which is obtained byconverting the voice data into a text, together with the voice tag withrespect to the at least one image, or to analyze the voice data using anobject appearing at the specific image 300.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, the controlmodule 120 may determine at least one portion of metadata information320 among information on the location, the time, the capturing device,and the shooting mode, based on a relation between an analysis result ofthe voice data and each of the plurality of information. In this case,the control module 120 may determine an image, which includes locationinformation belonging within a specific range from the position of thespecific image 300 as metadata information 320, from among the pluralityof images as the at least one association image, may determine an image,which includes time information belonging within a specific range fromthe time of the specific image 300 as metadata information 320, fromamong the plurality of images as the at least one association image, ormay determine an image, which includes location information having aspecific relation with the time of the specific image 300 as metadatainformation 320, from among the plurality of images as the at least oneassociation image. Meanwhile, the control module 120 may determine animage, which has a similarity of a threshold value or more to thespecific image 300, from among the plurality of images as the at leastone association image.

Also, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, atleast a part of the plurality of images may be stored on an externaldevice functionally connected with the electronic device 101, and theelectronic device 101 may further include a communication modulecommunicating with the external device.

Meanwhile, an electronic device 101 according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure may provide a search function using the voicetag. For example, the electronic device 101 may include a memory 130, avoice obtaining module 152 configured to obtain voice data and aprocessor 120 configured to search for at least one image from aplurality of images or videos based on the obtained voice data. Thememory 130 may include instructions, the instructions, when executed bythe processor 120, causing the electronic device 101 to find and provideat least one image of an image or video (1) linked with a voice tagcorresponding to the voice data of the plurality of images or videos,(2) linked with first metadata information based on the voice data, or(3) linked with the voice data and/or the second metadata information320 b generated from the first metadata information. Furthermore, atleast a part of the plurality of images or videos may be stored on anexternal device functionally connected with the electronic device 101.Moreover, in the case where the electronic device 101 further includes acommunication module, the memory may further include instructions whichmakes it possible to transmit a request for calling an image or videosearch result based on the voice data to the external device and toprovide at least a part of a search result received from the externaldevice.

Below, a voice tag registration method according to various embodimentsof the present disclosure will be described. The following methods maybe executed by an electronic device (e.g., electronic device 101).Furthermore, an order disclosed in an illustrated flow chart may followa logical flow, not a temporal order, and respective operations may beperformed at the same time unless logically conflicted or may beperformed according to any other order. Moreover, various modificationand expansion described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 may be applied tothe following methods.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a voice tag registrationmethod according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

In operation 610, an electronic device 101 may obtain voice data on aspecific image (e.g., specific image 300). For example, an input/outputinterface 150 or a voice input module 152 may obtain user utterance asvoice data. Furthermore, in the case where an image at which a voice tagis registered is displayed or a voice tag icon (e.g., an voice tag icon241 and the like of FIG. 2) is selected at an image at which a voice tagis registered, the electronic device 101 may obtain voice datacorresponding to a voice tag stored on a memory 130.

Operation 610 may be performed after a user captures an object (e.g., ascreen 210 and the like of FIG. 2) or may be performed after the userselects a specific image at a gallery application (e.g., a screen 250 ofFIG. 2).

In operation 620, an electronic device 101 (or a processor 120 of theelectronic device 101) may determine metadata information 320 based onvoice data. The specific image may have pieces of metadata information320, and the electronic device 101 may analyze the voice data todetermine at least one metadata information 320, which is determined asbeing associated with the voice data, from among the pieces of metadatainformation 320. For example, a metadata information 320 determinationmethod described with reference to FIG. 3 may be applied to operation620.

In operation 630, the electronic device 101 may determine an associationimage, which is determined as being associated with a specific image300, using an object included in the specific image 300 or subjectinformation (e.g., image information 310) appearing at the specificimage and/or the at least one metadata information 320 determined inoperation 620.

In operation 630, various references may be used to determine anassociation image. For example, there may be used references such as asimilarity of a constant level, correspondence of metadata information320, similarity, relation satisfaction, and the like between images. Inthis connection, references and conditions described with reference toFIGS. 3 and 4 may be applied to operation 630.

In operation 640, the electronic device 101 may register the voice dataobtained in operation 610 at images, which are determined as associationimages in operation 630, as a voice tag. Images at which a voice tag isregistered may be displayed together with an icon (e.g., a voice inputicon 241 of FIG. 2) indicating that a voice tag is registered.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a pluralityof voice tags may be registered at one image. For example, operations610, 620, 630, and 640 may be again performed with respect to any othervoice input on an image at which a voice tag is registered, therebymaking it possible to register any other voice tag. An image at which aplurality of tags is registered may include a plurality of marks such asan icon 241.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may continuously obtain a voice input (e.g., avoice input of “summer” or a voice input of “sea”) in operation 610 andmay register the respective voice tags (e.g., “summer” and “sea”) atassociation images (e.g., an association image group A or an associationimage group B) determined using metadata information 320 (e.g., timeinformation or position information) which is determined based on eachvoice input. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure,the electronic device 101 may obtain a voice input (e.g., “summer sea”)in operation 610, may divide the obtained voice input by the meaning orby the word to determine metadata information 320, and may determine anassociation image using the divided voice input to register the voicetag (“summer sea”). In this case, images having a voice tag of “summersea” may be provided as a search result even though a search operationis performed using “summer,” “sea” or “summer sea.”

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method for determiningassociation images using a parameter priority, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure. In a description associated withFIGS. 7 and 8 to 10, a description duplicated or similar with the abovedescription may be omitted.

In operation 710, an electronic device 101 may obtain voice data on aspecific image 300. In operation 720, the electronic device 101 maydetermine metadata information 320 based on the obtained voice data.Operation 710 and operation 720 may correspond to operation 610 andoperation 620 of FIG. 6.

In operation 730, the electronic device 101 may determine priorities ofimage information and metadata information 320. For example, anembodiment of FIG. 4 may be understood as an association image isdetermined under the condition that a priority of location informationis higher than that of image information.

The image information and pieces of metadata information 320 may beunderstood as parameters for determining an association image. Theelectronic device 101 may determine a priority of each parameter.Different references may be applied to the parameters in determining anassociation image(s). For example, determining of a similarity accordingto image processing may be applied to the image information as areference, and determining on whether to have a date as metadatainformation 320 may be applied to the time information as a reference.

In operation 740, the electronic device 101 may determine an associationimage by applying a parameter according to a priority. For example, theelectronic device 101 may determine a candidate for an association image(hereinafter referred to as an “association image candidate”), which isdetermined as being associated with a specific image 300, from among aplurality of stored images by applying a parameter of the highestpriority and a determining reference thereon.

In operation 750, the electronic device 101 may determine whether anassociation image determined in operation 740, that is, an associationimage candidate satisfies a specific range. The specific range may bedetermined by an input of a user or a setting of the electronic device101 (it can be previously determined). For example, the electronicdevice 101 may determine whether the number of association imagecandidates is smaller than a reference value (e.g., 15). If the numberof association image candidates satisfies the specific range (e.g., 13),the association image candidates may be determined as associationimages. In operation 770, the electronic device 101 may input voice dataobtained in operation 710 at the association images (in this case, thesame as the association image candidates) as a voice tag.

If the number of association image candidates does not satisfy thespecific range (e.g., 49), in operation 760, the electronic device 101may determine a parameter of a second priority. In operation 740, theelectronic device 101 may again determine an association image withrespect to the determined parameter (a parameter of a second priority).An association image candidate (second) determined according to thedetermining result may satisfy both a condition of the parameter of thehighest priority and a condition of the parameter of the secondpriority. The electronic device 101 may repeat a process of operation740, operation 750, and operation 760 until the number of associationimage candidates satisfies the specific range.

FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method for determiningassociation images using a weight of a parameter, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

In operation 810, an electronic device 101 may obtain voice data on aspecific image. In operation 820, the electronic device 101 maydetermine at least portion of one metadata information 320 based on theobtained voice data. Operation 810 and operation 820 may correspond tooperation 610 and operation 620 of FIG. 6.

In operation 830, the electronic device 101 may determine a weight ofeach parameter. For example, the electronic device 101 may determine aweight of 1 with respect to image information and a weight of 0.8 withrespect to time information. A weight may be differently set accordingto a result of analyzing the voice data obtained in operation 810 oraccording to a situation.

In operation 840, the electronic device 101 may determine an associationimage based on the determined parameter and weight. For example, in thecase where an image has a similarity of 80% to a specific image (e.g.,specific image 300), is placed within a radius of 1 Km from a shootingsite of the specific image (e.g., specific image 300), and is capturedat the same date as a date when the specific image (e.g., specific image300) is captured, a total score of 2.1 may be obtained by applying ascore of (0.8 (80%)*1 (weight)) to the image information, a score of (1(location conversion score)*0.5 (weight)) to the location information,and a score of (1 (time conversion score)*0.8) to the time information,respectively. Here, the location conversion score may be 1 when an imagebelongs within 1 Km from a position where the specific image (e.g.,specific image 300) is captured, 0.8 when an image belongs within 2 Kmfrom the position, 0.6 when an image belongs within 3 Km from theposition, 0.4 when an image belongs within 4 Km from the position, and 0when an image exceeds 5 Km from the position. Meanwhile, the timeconversion score may be 1 when a date is the same as a date when thespecific image (e.g., specific image 300) is captured and 0 when a dateis different from a date when the specific image (e.g., specific image300) is captured. Each score conversion manner may be differently setaccording to a user setting or a voice data analysis result. Forexample, if the voice data analysis result indicates that the voice datais a voice input (e.g., Maldives) associated with the locationinformation, a high weight may be set to location information ofmetadata information 320. If the voice data analysis result indicatesthat the voice data is a voice input (e.g., sunrise) associated with thetime information, a high weight may be set to time information ofmetadata information 320.

If a score of each image as an association image candidate isdetermined, the electronic device 101 may determine an image, of whichthe score is greater than or equal to a reference score, as anassociation image. For example, in the case where the reference score is1.5, the electronic device 101 may determine an image, of which thescore is greater than or equal to 1.5, as an association image. If theassociation image is determined, the electronic device 101 may registerthe voice data obtained in operation 810 as a voice tag.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, theelectronic device 101 may adjust the reference score to change thenumber of association images. For example, in the case where the numberof association images is set to be smaller than or equal to 20, thenumber of association images satisfying the reference score may exceed20. For example, in the case where the number of association images doesnot satisfy a specific range (e.g., smaller than or equal to 20)(operation 843), the electronic device 101 may adjust (e.g., increase) adetermining reference of an association image in operation 847, forexample, the reference score to allow the number of association imagesto belong to a specific range. In operation 847, the electronic device101 may adjust the association image determination reference and returnto operation 841. In operation 845, the electronic device 101 maydetermine images satisfying a finally set range as association images.In operation 850, the electronic device 101 registers the voice data atthe association image as a voice tag.

FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically illustrating a voice tag registrationmethod according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

In operation 910, an electronic device 101 may obtain voice data on aspecific image 300. In operation 920, the electronic device 101 maydetermine metadata information 320 based on the obtained voice data.Operation 910 and operation 920 may correspond to operation 610 andoperation 620 of FIG. 6.

In operation 930, the electronic device 101 may determine at least oneimage having a similarity value equal to or higher than a thresholdvalue or more to a specific image 300. For example, the electronicdevice 101 may determine a plurality of images including an object whichis similar to an object included in specific image 300 or images beingsimilar to the specific image 300, based on image information 310.

In operation 940, the electronic device 101 may determine an image,satisfying a specific reference with respect to the metadata information320 determined in operation 920, from among the plurality of imagesdetermined in operation 930. In operation 950, the electronic device 101may register the voice data obtained in operation 910 at the imagedetermined in operation 940 as a voice tag.

The registration of a voice tag using a priority or weight, describedwith reference to FIG. 7 or 8, may be applied to a method of FIG. 9through suitable modification or change. Since the method described withreference to FIG. 9 basically uses a similarity of an object (visualinformation of an image) appearing at an image, a priority or weight maybe only applied to metadata information 320 determined in operation 920.

FIG. 10 is a diagram schematically illustrating a method for registeringvoice tags 166 at images stored on an electronic device 101 and a server106, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

In general, an image captured by a user terminal may be stored on thesame user terminal. However, recently, there has been increased interestin storing images and image information in various locations, e.g.,images stored on the user terminal, images stored on a personal computer(PC) or a laptop of the user, images stored on a tablet of the user,images stored on a social account of the user, images stored on a cloudserver of the user, and the like are managed using a user account andthe like. A method for determining an association image with respect toan image not stored on a user terminal to register a voice tag under theabove-described condition will be described with reference to FIG. 10. Amethod for registering voice tags at images stored on an electronicdevice 101 and a server 106 may be exemplarily illustrated in FIG. 10for the sake of easy description. The server 106 may include variousdevices (e.g., a cloud server, a user PC, a tablet, and the like), not auser terminal (i.e., an electronic device 101).

In operation 1010, an electronic device 101 may obtain voice data on aspecific image (e.g., specific image 300). In operation 1020, theelectronic device 101 may determine metadata information 320 based onthe obtained voice data. Operation 1010 and operation 1020 maycorrespond to operation 610 and operation 620 of FIG. 6.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, operation1010 may be performed in connection with any other device connected withthe electronic device 101. For example, it may be possible to obtainvoice data from a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch and the like)connected (e.g., Bluetooth connected) with the electronic device 101,with respect to a specific image (e.g., specific image 300) stored onthe electronic device 101. Here, the wearable device may include a voicerecognition module (e.g., a microphone) for obtaining voice data and mayprovide the obtained voice data (or a result of analyzing/processingobtained voice data) to the electronic device 101 through a connectedcommunication channel (e.g., a Bluetooth communication channel).

In operation 1030, the electronic device 101 may transmit imageinformation and metadata information 320 to the server 106 through acommunication module (e.g., a communication interface 170). Whentransmitting the information, the electronic device 101 may alsotransmit a message/instruction which causes the server 106 to determinean association image with respect to an image, stored on the server 106,based on the information and to transmit a determination result to theelectronic device 101.

In operation 1040, each of the electronic device 101 and the server 106may determine an association image on a specific image (e.g., specificimage 300). Operation 1040 may be performed by both the electronicdevice 101 and the server 106 or may be performed only by the server106. In operation 1050, the server 106 may transmit a result ofdetermining an association image to the electronic device 101. If thenumber of association images is limited, the server 106 may transmitscore or priority information calculated with respect to each image,together with the determining result. According to various embodimentsof the present disclosure, the server 106 may transmit an associationimage determining result which is determined according to a request oranother condition of the electronic device 101 to fit to a specificnumber (or a specific range).

In operation 1060, the electronic device 101 may determine anassociation image by combining a result determined at the electronicdevice 101 and a result received from the server 106. As oneexemplification, the electronic device 101 may determine an image, whichis determined as an association image of images stored on the electronicdevice 101, and an image, which is included in a result determined as anassociation image at the server 106, as association images. As anotherexemplification, after combining determining results of the electronicdevice 101 and the server 106, the electronic device 101 may determineassociation images of which the number is designated according to areference (e.g., a calculated score and the like).

In operation 1070, the electronic device 101 may transmit thedetermination result of operation 1060 to the server 106.

In operation 1080, each of the electronic device 101 and the server 106may register voice data at an association image corresponding to thedetermination result of operation 1060 as a voice tag.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a method forregistering a voice tag may include obtaining voice data on at least oneimage, determining at least one metadata information 320 of a specificimage (e.g., specific image 300) based on the voice data, determining atleast one association image which satisfies a specific reference withrespect to the specific image (e.g., specific image 300) or thedetermined metadata information 320, and registering the voice data atthe at least one association image as a voice tag. Here, the determiningof the at least one association image may include determiningassociation image candidates based on the specific image (e.g., specificimage 300) or a priority of the determined metadata information 320,determining whether the number of the association image candidatessatisfies a specific range, and determining at least a part of theassociation image candidates as the association images according towhether the number of the association image candidates satisfies thespecific range. The method may further include sequentially applying thespecific image (e.g., specific image 300) or the determined metadatainformation 320 according to the priority if the specific range is notsatisfied.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, thedetermining of the at least one association image may includedetermining a weight with respect to the specific image or thedetermined metadata information 320, calculating a score of eachassociation image candidate based on the specific image (e.g., specificimage 300) or the determined metadata information 320 and the weight oneach of the specific image (e.g., specific image 300) and the determinedmetadata information 320, and determining at least a part of theassociation image candidates as association images according to whetherto satisfy a reference score on the calculated score. Here, the methodmay further include determining all the association image candidates asthe association image if the number of the association image candidatessatisfies a specific range. The method may further include adjusting thereference score if the number of the association image candidates doesnot satisfy the specific range.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a method forregistering a voice tag at a specific image (e.g., specific image 300)at an electronic device 101 may include obtaining voice data on thespecific image (e.g., specific image 300), determining at least one of aplurality of metadata information 320 of the specific image (e.g.,specific image 300) based on the voice data, determining a plurality ofimages each having a similarity of a threshold value or more to thespecific image (e.g., specific image 300), and registering the voicedata on at least one, which satisfies a specific reference with respectto the determined metadata information 320, from among the plurality ofimages as a voice tag.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic device accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 11, an electronic device 1101 may include, forexample, all or a part of an electronic device 101 illustrated inFIG. 1. The electronic device 1101 may include one or more processors(e.g., an application processor (AP)) 1110, a communication module 1120,a subscriber identification module 1124, a memory 1130, a sensor module1140, an input device 1150, a display 1160, an interface 1170, an audiomodule 1180, a camera module 1191, a power management module 1195, abattery 1196, an indicator 1197, and a motor 1198.

The processor 1110 may drive an operating system (OS) or an applicationto control a plurality of hardware or software components connected tothe processor 1110 and may process and compute a variety of data. Theprocessor 1110 may be implemented with a System on Chip (SoC), forexample. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theprocessor 1110 may further include a graphic processing unit (GPU)and/or an image signal processor. The processor 1110 may include atleast a part (e.g., a cellular module 1121) of components illustrated inFIG. 11. The processor 1110 may load and process an instruction or data,which is received from at least one of other components (e.g., anonvolatile memory), and may store a variety of data at a nonvolatilememory.

The communication module 1120 may be configured the same as or similarto a communication interface 170 of FIG. 1. The communication module1120 may include a cellular module 1121, a wireless-fidelity (Wi-Fi)module 1123, a Bluetooth (BT) module 1125, a global positioning system(GPS) module 1127, a near field communication (NFC) module 1128, and aradio frequency (RF) module 1129.

The cellular module 1121 may provide voice communication, videocommunication, a character service, an Internet service or the likethrough a communication network. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the cellular module 1121 may perform discriminationand authentication of an electronic device 1101 within a communicationnetwork using a subscriber identification module (e.g., a SIM card)1124, for example. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure,the cellular module 1121 may perform at least a portion of functionsthat the processor 1110 provides. According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the cellular module 1121 may include a communicationprocessor (CP).

Each of the Wi-Fi module 1123, the BT module 1125, the GPS module 1127,and the NFC module 1128 may include a processor for processing dataexchanged through a corresponding module, for example. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, at least a portion (e.g., two ormore components) of the cellular module 1121, the Wi-Fi module 1123, theBT module 1125, the GPS module 1127, and the NFC module 1128 may beincluded within one Integrated Circuit (IC) or an IC package.

The RF module 1129 may transmit and receive a communication signal(e.g., an RF signal). The RF module 1129 may include a transceiver, apower amplifier module (PAM), a frequency filter, a low noise amplifier(LNA), an antenna, or the like. According to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure, at least one of the cellular module 1121, the Wi-Fimodule 1123, the BT module 1125, the GPS module 1127, or the NFC module1128 may transmit and receive an RF signal through a separate RF module.

The subscriber identification module 1124 may include, for example, asubscriber identification module and may include unique identifyinformation (e.g., integrated circuit card identifier (ICCID)) orsubscriber information (e.g., integrated mobile subscriber identity(IMSI)).

The memory 1130 (e.g., a memory 130) may include an internal memory 1132or an external memory 1134. For example, the internal memory 1132 mayinclude at least one of a volatile memory (e.g., a dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), a static RAM (SRAM), or a synchronous DRAM (SDRAM)), anonvolatile memory (e.g., a one-time programmable read only memory(OTPROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable and programmable ROM(EPROM), an electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), a maskROM, a flash ROM, a NAND flash memory, or a NOR flash memory), a harddrive, or a solid state drive (SSD).

The external memory 1134 may include a flash drive, for example, compactflash (CF), secure digital (SD), micro secure digital (Micro-SD), minisecure digital (Mini-SD), extreme digital (xD), multimedia card (MMC), amemory stick, or the like. The external memory 1134 may be functionallyand/or physically connected to the electronic device 1101 throughvarious interfaces.

The sensor module 1140 may measure, for example, a physical quantity ormay detect an operation state of the electronic device 1101. The sensormodule 1140 may convert the measured or detected information to anelectric signal. The sensor module 1140 may include at least one of agesture sensor 1140A, a gyro sensor 1140B, a pressure sensor 1140C, amagnetic sensor 1140D, an acceleration sensor 1140E, a grip sensor1140F, a proximity sensor 1140G, a color sensor 1140H (e.g., red, green,blue (RGB) sensor), a living body sensor 1140I, a temperature/humiditysensor 1140J, an illuminance sensor 1140K, or an UV sensor 1140M.Although not illustrated, additionally or generally, the sensor module1140 may further include, for example, an E-nose sensor, anelectromyography sensor (EMG) sensor, an electroencephalogram (EEG)sensor, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, a photoplethysmographic (PPG)sensor, an infrared (IR) sensor, an iris sensor, and/or a fingerprintsensor. The sensor module 1140 may further include a control circuit forcontrolling at least one or more sensors included therein. According toan embodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic device 1101 mayfurther include a processor which is a part of the processor 1110 orindependent of the processor 1110 and is configured to control thesensor module 1140. The processor may control the sensor module 1140while the processor 1110 remains at a sleep state.

The input device 1150 may include, for example, a touch panel 1152, a(digital) pen sensor 1154, a key 1156, or an ultrasonic input unit 1158.The touch panel 1152 may use at least one of capacitive, resistive,infrared and ultrasonic detecting methods. Also, the touch panel 1152may further include a control circuit. The touch panel 1152 may furtherinclude a tactile layer to provide a tactile reaction to a user.

The (digital) pen sensor 1154 may be, for example, a part of a touchpanel or may include an additional sheet for recognition. The key 1156may include, for example, a physical button, an optical key, a keypad,and the like. The ultrasonic input unit 1158 may detect (or sense) anultrasonic signal, which is generated from an input device, through amicrophone (e.g., a microphone 288) and may determine data correspondingto the detected ultrasonic signal.

The display 1160 (e.g., a display 160) may include a panel 1162, ahologram device 1164, or a projector 1166. The panel 1162 may beconfigured the same as or similar to a display 160 of FIG. 1. The panel1162 and the touch panel 1152 may be integrated into a single module.The hologram device 1164 may display a stereoscopic image in a spaceusing a light interference phenomenon. The projector 1166 may projectlight onto a screen so as to display an image. The screen may bearranged in the inside or the outside of the electronic device 1101.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the display 1160may further include a control circuit for controlling the panel 1162,the hologram device 1164, or the projector 1166.

The interface 1170 may include, for example, an HDMI (high-definitionmultimedia interface) 1172, a USB (universal serial bus) 1174, anoptical interface 1176, or a D-sub (D-subminiature) 1178. The interface1170 may be included, for example, in a communication interface 170illustrated in FIG. 1. Additionally or generally, the interface 1170 mayinclude, for example, a mobile high definition link (MHL) interface, aSD card/multi-media card (MMC) interface, or an infrared dataassociation (IrDA) standard interface.

The audio module 1180 may convert a sound and an electric signal in dualdirections. At least a portion of the audio module 1180 may be included,for example, in an input/output interface 150 illustrated in FIG. 1. Theaudio module 1180 may process, for example, sound information that isinput or output through a speaker 1182, a receiver 1184, an earphone1186, or a microphone 1188.

The camera module 1191 for shooting a still image or a video mayinclude, for example, at least one image sensor (e.g., a front sensor ora rear sensor), a lens, an image signal processor (ISP), or a flash(e.g., an LED or a xenon lamp).

The power management module 1195 may manage, for example, power of theelectronic device 1101. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) a charger IC,or a battery or fuel gauge may be included in the power managementmodule 1195. The PMIC may have a wired charging method and/or a wirelesscharging method. The wireless charging method may include, for example,a magnetic resonance method, a magnetic induction method or anelectromagnetic method and may further include an additional circuit,for example, a coil loop, a resonant circuit, or a rectifier, and thelike. The battery gauge may measure, for example, a remaining capacityof the battery 1196 and a voltage, current or temperature thereof whilethe battery is charged. The battery 1196 may include, for example, arechargeable battery or a solar battery.

The indicator 1197 may display a specific state of the electronic device1101 or a portion thereof (e.g., a processor 1110), such as a bootingstate, a message state, a charging state, and the like. The motor 1198may convert an electrical signal into a mechanical vibration and maygenerate the following effects: vibration, haptic, and the like.Although not illustrated, a processing device (e.g., a GPU) forsupporting a mobile TV may be included in the electronic device 1101.The processing device for supporting a mobile TV may process media dataaccording to the standards of DMB, digital video broadcasting (DVB),MediaFlo™, or the like.

Each of the above-mentioned elements of the electronic device accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure may be configured withone or more components, and the names of the elements may be changedaccording to the type of the electronic device. The electronic deviceaccording to various embodiments of the present disclosure may includeat least one of the above-mentioned elements, and some elements may beomitted or other additional elements may be added. Furthermore, some ofthe elements of the electronic device according to various embodimentsof the present disclosure may be combined with each other so as to formone entity, so that the functions of the elements may be performed inthe same manner as before the combination.

FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a program module according tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 12, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a program module 1210 (e.g., a program 140) may include anoperating system (OS) to control resources associated with an electronicdevice (e.g., an electronic device 101), and/or diverse applications(e.g., an application program 147) driven on the OS. The OS may be, forexample, Android, iOS, Windows, Symbian, Tizen, or Bada.

The program module 1210 may include a kernel 1220, a middleware 1230, anapplication programming interface (API) 1260, and/or an application1270. At least a part of the program module 1210 may be preloaded on anelectronic device or may be downloadable from an external electronicdevice (e.g., an external electronic device 102 or 104, a server 106,and the like).

The kernel 1220 (e.g., a kernel 141) may include, for example, a systemresource manager 1221 or a device driver 1223. The system resourcemanager 1221 may perform control, allocation, or retrieval of systemresources. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thesystem resource manager 1221 may include a process managing part, amemory managing part, or a file system managing part. The device driver1223 may include, for example, a display driver, a camera driver, aBluetooth driver, a common memory driver, an USB driver, a keypaddriver, a Wi-Fi driver, an audio driver, or an inter-processcommunication (IPC) driver.

The middleware 1230 may provide, for example, a function which theapplication 1270 needs in common, or may provide diverse functions tothe application 1270 through the API 1260 to allow the application 1270to efficiently use limited system resources of the electronic device.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware1230 (e.g., a middleware 143) may include at least one of a runtimelibrary 1235, an application manager 1241, a window manager 1242, amultimedia manager 1243, a resource manager 1244, a power manager 1245,a database manager 1246, a package manager 1247, a connectivity manager1248, a notification manager 1249, a location manager 1250, a graphicmanager 1251, or a security manager 1252.

The runtime library 1235 may include, for example, a library modulewhich is used by a compiler to add a new function through a programminglanguage while the application 1270 is being executed. The runtimelibrary 1235 may perform input/output management, memory management, orcapacities about arithmetic functions.

The application manager 1241 may manage, for example, a life cycle of atleast one application of the application 1270. The window manager 1242may manage a GUI resource which is used in a screen. The multimediamanager 1243 may identify a format necessary for playing diverse mediafiles, and may perform encoding or decoding of media files by using acodec suitable for the format. The resource manager 1244 may manageresources such as a storage space, memory, or source code of at leastone application of the application 1270.

The power manager 1245 may operate, for example, with a basicinput/output system (BIOS) to manage a battery or power, and may providepower information for an operation of an electronic device. The databasemanager 1246 may generate, search for, or modify database which is to beused in at least one application of the application 1270. The packagemanager 1247 may install or update an application which is distributedin the form of a package file.

The connectivity manager 1248 may manage, for example, wirelessconnection, such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The notification manager 1249may display or notify an event such as arrival message, promise, orproximity notification in a mode that does not disturb a user. Thelocation manager 1250 may manage location information of an electronicdevice. The graphic manager 1251 may manage a graphic effect that isprovided to a user, or manage a user interface relevant thereto. Thesecurity manager 1252 may provide a general security function necessaryfor system security or user authentication. According to an embodimentof the present disclosure, in the case where an electronic device (e.g.,an electronic device 101) includes a telephony function, the middleware1230 may further includes a telephony manager for managing a voice orvideo call function of the electronic device.

The middleware 1230 may include a middleware module that combinesdiverse functions of the above-described components. The middleware 1230may provide a module specialized to each OS kind to providedifferentiated functions. Additionally, the middleware 1230 may remove apart of the preexisting components, dynamically, or may add a newcomponent thereto.

The API 1260 (e.g., an API 145) may be, for example, a set ofprogramming functions and may be provided with a configuration which isvariable depending on an OS. For example, in the case where an OS is theandroid or the iOS, it may be permissible to provide one API 1260 setper platform. In the case where an OS is Tizen, it may be permissible toprovide two or more API 1260 sets per platform.

The application 1270 (e.g., an application program 147) may include, forexample, one or more applications capable of providing functions for ahome 1271, a dialer 1272, an SMS/MMS 1273, an instant message (IM) 1274,a browser 1275, a camera 1276, an alarm 1277, a contact 1278, a voicedial 1279, an e-mail 1280, a calendar 1281, a media player 1282, analbum 1283, and a timepiece 1284, or for offering health care (e.g.,measuring an exercise quantity or blood sugar) or environmentinformation (e.g., atmospheric pressure, humidity, or temperature).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the application1270 may include an application (hereinafter referred to as “informationexchanging application” for descriptive convenience) to supportinformation exchange between the electronic device (e.g., an electronicdevice 101) and an external electronic device (e.g., an externalelectronic device 102 or 104). The information exchanging applicationmay include, for example, a notification relay application fortransmitting specific information to the external electronic device, ora device management application for managing the external electronicdevice.

For example, the information exchanging application may include afunction of transmitting notification information, which arise fromother applications (e.g., applications for SMS/MMS, e-mail, health care,or environmental information), to an external electronic device (e.g.,an external electronic device 102 or 104). Additionally, the informationexchanging application may receive, for example, notificationinformation from an external electronic device and provide thenotification information to a user.

The device management application may manage (e.g., install, delete, orupdate), for example, at least one function (e.g., turn-on/turn-off ofan external electronic device itself (or a part of components) oradjustment of brightness (or resolution) of a display) of the externalelectronic device (e.g., an external electronic device 102 or 104) whichcommunicates with the electronic device 101, an application running inthe external electronic device, or a service (e.g., a call service or amessage service) provided from the external electronic device.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the application1270 may include an application (e.g., a health care application) whichis assigned in accordance with an attribute (e.g., an attribute of amobile medical device as a kind of electronic device) of the externalelectronic device (e.g., an external electronic device 102 or 104).According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the application1270 may include an application which is received from an externalelectronic device (e.g., an external server 106 or an electronic device102 or 104). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theapplication 1270 may include a preloaded application or a third partyapplication which is downloadable from a server. The component titles ofthe program module 1210 according to the embodiment of the presentdisclosure may be modifiable depending on kinds of OSs.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, at least aportion of the program module 1210 may be implemented by software,firmware, hardware, or a combination of two or more thereof. At least aportion of the program module 1210 may be implemented (e.g., executed),for example, by a processor (e.g., a processor 120). At least a portionof the program module 1210 may include, for example, modules, programs,routines, sets of instructions, or processes, or the like for performingone or more functions.

The term “module” used herein may represent, for example, a unitincluding one or more combinations of hardware, software and firmware.The term “module” may be interchangeably used with the terms “unit,”“logic,” “logical block,” “component” and “circuit.” The “module” may bea minimum unit of an integrated component or may be a part thereof. The“module” may be a minimum unit for performing one or more functions or apart thereof. The “module” may be implemented mechanically orelectronically. For example, the “module” may include at least one of anapplication-specific IC (ASIC) chip, a field-programmable gate array(FPGA), and a programmable-logic device for performing some operations,which are known or will be developed.

At least a portion of an apparatus (e.g., modules or functions thereof)or a method (e.g., operations) according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be, for example, implemented by instructionsstored in a computer-readable storage media in the form of a programmodule. The instruction, when executed by one or more processors (e.g.,a processor 120), may cause the one or more processors to perform afunction corresponding to the instruction. The computer-readable storagemedia, for example, may be the memory 130.

A computer-readable recording medium may include a hard disk, a magneticmedia, a floppy disk, a magnetic media (e.g., a magnetic tape), anoptical media (e.g., a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM) and adigital versatile disc (DVD), a magneto-optical media (e.g., a flopticaldisk), and hardware devices (e.g., a read only memory (ROM), a randomaccess memory (RAM), or a flash memory). Also, a program instruction mayinclude not only a mechanical code such as things generated by acompiler but also a high-level language code executable on a computerusing an interpreter. The above hardware unit may be configured tooperate via one or more software modules for performing an operation ofthe present disclosure, and vice versa.

For example, a computer-readable storage medium may includeinstructions, the instructions, which executed, causing an electronicdevice to generate voice data on a voice received with respect to afirst image or video, link the voice data or first metadata informationbased on the voice data, with the first image or video, determine arelation between a second image or video and the first image or video,and link at least one of (1) the voice data, (2) the first metadatainformation, or (3) second metadata information 320 b generated from thevoice data and/or the first metadata information with the second imageor video, based on at least a part of the determined relation. Besides,instructions for executing the above-described methods may beadditionally or generally included.

A module or a program module according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure may include at least one of the above elements, or aportion of the above elements may be omitted, or additional otherelements may be further included. Operations performed by a module, aprogram module, or other elements according to various embodiments ofthe present disclosure may be executed sequentially, in parallel,repeatedly, or in a heuristic method. Also, a portion of operations maybe executed in different sequences, omitted, or other operations may beadded.

According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, a user maymanage or search for a desired photo among a plurality of photos, whichare stored an electronic device or another location (device), using avoice tag. For example, the user may register a voice tag with respectto a specific photo or a photo having a relation with the specific photoand may search for a desired photo using a corresponding voice tag.

While the present disclosure has been shown and described with referenceto various embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilledin the art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure asdefined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising: a voice inputmodule; a display; a memory; and a processor electrically connected tothe voice input module and the memory, wherein the memory is configuredto store one or more images or videos, and wherein the memory comprisesinstructions, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causingthe electronic device to: generate voice data on a voice receivedthrough the voice input module with respect to a first image or videostored on the memory, link the voice data or first metadata informationbased on the voice data, with the first image or video, determine arelation between a second image or video stored on the memory, and thefirst image or video, and link at least one of (1) the voice data, (2)the first metadata information, or (3) second metadata informationgenerated from the voice data and/or the first metadata information withthe second image or video, based on at least a part of the relationdetermined between the second image or video stored on the memory andthe first image or video; wherein the instructions, when executed by theprocessor, cause the electronic device further to display a list ofvoice tags including a first voice tag corresponding to the voice dataon the display.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein theelectronic device links the first metadata information with the firstimage or video in the form of a tag, and wherein the electronic deviceis configured to link at least one of (1) the voice data, (2) the firstmetadata information, or (3) the second metadata information with thesecond image or video in the form of a tag.
 3. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the first metadata information comprises speech-to-textinformation extracted from the voice data.
 4. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the electronic device is configured to determine therelation using at least one of an image analysis, location information,time information, text information, or face recognition informationassociated with the first image or video and the second image or video.5. An electronic device comprising: a voice input module configured toreceive a voice from an outside to generate voice data; a communicationmodule; a display; a memory; and a processor electrically connected tothe voice input module, the communication module, and the memory,wherein the memory is configured to store one or more images or videos,and wherein the memory comprises instructions, the instructions, whenexecuted by the processor, causing the electronic device to: generatevoice data on a voice received through the voice input module withrespect to a first image or video stored on the memory, link the voicedata or first metadata information based on the voice data, with thefirst image or video, transmit the first image or video and the linkedvoice data or the first metadata information to the outside of theelectronic device through the communication module, transmit a requestfor requiring one or more images or videos associated with the linkedvoice data or the first metadata information to the outside of theelectronic device, and receive one or more images or videos linked with(1) the voice data, (2) the first metadata information, or (3) secondmetadata information generated from the voice data and/or the firstmetadata information from the outside of the electronic device; andwherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause theelectronic device further to display a list of voice tags including afirst voice tag corresponding to the voice data on the display.
 6. Theelectronic device of claim 5, wherein the list includes icons or textscorresponding to the voice tags, respectively.
 7. An electronic devicecomprising: a voice input module configured to obtain voice data on aspecific image; a display; and a processor configured to: analyze thevoice data to determine at least one portion of metadata information ofthe specific image, register the voice data as a voice tag with thespecific image; register the voice data as the voice tag with at leastone association image, which satisfies a specific reference with respectto the specific image or the determined metadata information, from amonga plurality of images; and display a list of voice tags including thevoice tag corresponding to the voice data.
 8. The electronic device ofclaim 7, wherein a plurality of metadata information comprises at leastone of information on a location or a time where the specific image iscaptured, information on a device capturing the specific image, orinformation on a shooting mode of the specific image.
 9. The electronicdevice of claim 7, further comprising: a shooting module, wherein if thespecific image is captured by the shooting module, the processor isconfigured to activate the voice input module to guide obtaining of thevoice data.
 10. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the processoris configured to provide a user interface (UI) for guiding obtaining ofthe voice data if the specific image is selected.
 11. The electronicdevice of claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to register atext tag, which is obtained by converting the voice data into a text,together with the voice tag with respect to the at least one associationimage.
 12. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the processor isconfigured to analyze the voice data using an object appearing at thespecific image.
 13. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein theprocessor is configured to determine at least one portion of metadatainformation among information on the location, the time, the devicecapturing the specific image, and the shooting mode, based on a relationbetween an analysis result of the voice data and each of the pluralityof information.
 14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein theprocessor is configured to determine an image, which includes locationinformation belonging within a specific range from a position of thespecific image as metadata information, from among the plurality ofimages as the at least one association image.
 15. The electronic deviceof claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to determine an image,which includes time information belonging within a specific range fromthe time of the specific image as metadata information, from among theplurality of images as the at least one association image.
 16. Theelectronic device of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured todetermine an image, which includes location information having aspecific relation with the time of the specific image as metadatainformation, from among the plurality of images as the at least oneassociation image.
 17. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein theprocessor is configured to determine an image, which has a similarity ofa threshold value or more to the specific image, from among theplurality of images as the at least one association image.
 18. Theelectronic device of claim 7, wherein at least a part of the pluralityof images is stored on an external device functionally connected withthe electronic device, and wherein the electronic device furthercomprises: a communication module communicating with the externaldevice.
 19. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the processor isfurther configured to reproduce the voice data in response to selectingthe voice tag corresponding the voice data from the list.
 20. Theelectronic device of claim 7, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to search the at least one association image in response toselecting the voice tag corresponding the voice data from the list.